Ghosts of Tranquility Crater
by wingedpixie
Summary: A daughter. A husband. Two beautiful memories that haunt Neo Queen Serenity, and yet no one else shares them. As the Moon Kingdom prepares for a second War of Comets, she flees to find those who have been forgotten.
1. Chapter 1

The Ghosts of Tranquility Crater Ch.1  
  
By wingedpixie  
  
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and such do not belong to me. In fact they belong to people with much more money and legal access, so I don't want to get into trouble. ^.^ However, the wording is mine, so I would appreciate it if this was not reproduced without my permission.  
  
  
  
  
  
The moon was quiet that night. Pale and grey, it hovered above the swirling earth, and even the dust of the Tranquility Crater had settled at the bottom of the giant dip. Serenity lay still.  
  
Long curls of her pale yellow hair twisted among the sheets. Now, in the silence of the dark was the only time she ever saw its natural color, the only time the horrid white powder didn't make her sneeze. It made a gentle shushing sound as she moved, until her back rested against the headboard and her fingers grasped a strand, twining it around one finger like a wedding band.  
  
In her heart she felt a sudden twinge of longing. Her head sank onto the pillows where she could faintly smell roses, if her breaths were deep and her mind determined. Roses. And the image of dark hair, stark in a room of white satin and moonstone.  
  
She smiled, thinking of forgotten things, and felt a coolness slipping down her cheeks. On her lips rested the taste of salt, and a name not quite spoken in the stillness.  
  
But the moon had its own way of sensing, and beneath the eerie, reflected light of its face, its subtle humming began to shape into thought. Across the crater the fine dust of the moon rose like a mist. And from within the deepest core there came a cry, wordless, whispery, and vague, for one long gone.  
  
  
  
"It isn't normal," Minako said, the long tails of her red hair bow hanging about her shoulders. As with all members of the Moon Kingdom, the Lady Venus did not grow, old, fat, or otherwise, but her clothing had bloomed into a flood of orange cloth, which shimmered with tiny yellow topazes. At her wrist dangled a golden charm, shaped like a key.  
  
The Lady Mercury chased a noodle with her chopsticks, balancing the bowl on her knee. On the other a plate of shrimp rested, framed by ghostly white leaves that had to be wrestled from the moon's dry surface, and Ami could not imagine where the gardeners found the will. She lifted the noodle to her lips.  
  
Minako waited in silence.  
  
"No, it's not," Ami said, her voice light and calm as the atmosphere.  
  
They sat in the Hall of Pillars, Ami actually on one of them that had fallen during a dust storm. At the bottom the standard ridges had been carved, but as they shot upward the lines began to bow out, becoming the fluid curves of a dress. Arms emerged from the column, clasped in prayer, and crowning the whole a face had been rendered, smooth and almost translucent. Odangos perched on the head.  
  
Ami's particular pillar did not have the long pigtails of the queen, but on its hundreds of sisters elaborate swirls of marble hair wound up and tangled together into an arched ceiling. Each face mirrored the others, identical. All were built of the same cold stone. The Lady Mercury wondered that the artist had not gone mad from the monotony. And yet, perhaps because of the soft, half light of the moon, a hint of tenderness showed behind of each pair of closed eyes.  
  
The Lady Venus shifted her weight, the jewels of her gown tinkling against one another. "She isn't paying attention to politics," she stated with a pleading tone to her voice. Beneath the heavy arrangement of her hair, Minako's face grew clouded. She tapped the delicate charm at her wrist, making it swing.  
  
Still her companion was quiet, though her large blue eyes followed the gleam of the little key. Minako rose and slid one foot back into a red velvet shoe. Automatically smoothing the front of her dress, her hands strayed to the golden chain of her rank, wound around her waist. So fragile were thin links. With a clipping of heels, Minako walked from the room.  
  
After she had left, the Lady Mercury idly swirled the liquid in her bowl. Minako's last comment came back to her, bringing with it the strange sensation that it hadn't been a comment but a question, an asking of permission. She wasn't sure if her silence had been taken for a yes or no.  
  
She snagged a translucent shrimp by its fan tail, shaking it gently to get the moisture off. Above her the elegant pillars clasped their hands, and she wondered what they prayed for.  
  
  
  
Minako stood with her head bowed, in the corridor between the west and east wings. In her hand a mottled yellow envelope waited, but her face was buried in one arm, an arm that trembled against the wall. She chanced a look, and suddenly her heart was breaking, her eyes burning with unshed tears.  
  
"Usagi," she whispered, her voice choked. "Usagi, I don't know what man you've been talking about. There is no Mamoru. Not in this court, not on this world, not on any of planet in our domain.  
  
"I want to believe you, Usagi," she said to the envelope, as her finger slid under the flap. The red wax of the seal broke, ruining the emblem of the upside down crescent moon. 


	2. Chapter 2

The Ghosts of Tranquility Crater Ch.2  
  
By wingedpixie  
  
Disclaimer: Yep, Sailor Moon and such still don't belong to me, but the stuff I wrote in the 1st disclaimer pretty much summed all of that up.  
  
AN: Thanks for all the reviews. A nice surprise. ^.^  
  
  
  
  
  
She couldn't do it. Even as she grasped the card within, Minako could not bring herself to take it from the envelope. The orange billows of her gown's fabric rustled as she sank to her knees on the corridor floor. Up to her face her hands rose, one still clutching the terrible letter, and she sobbed for a dusty, cratered kingdom, for its people who went about their lives as though they were running on tracks, and for a monarch who talked of a past that had never existed. It was a dark day for the Moon Kingdom's First Minister.  
  
A passing scullery maid, dressed in deep reds, hurried discreetly by.  
  
  
  
Serenity's feet padded softly over the grass of the inner courtyard. Faintly the blades glowed as they bent beneath her weight, leaving a trail of phosphorescent footprints like the train of a gown behind her.  
  
Every spring, dancers so thin that their bodies made right angles when they bent to lace their shoes, would flit and waltz and leap delicate patterns onto the ground. Often the bottoms of the shoes would have wooden shapes sewn onto them, the performers' feet acting as stamps each time they brushed the ground.  
  
She could remember watching from a balcony, seeing the dancers vault up and away from their glowing tracks, then land in a twirl and a sidestep. They could never leave the moon, these precious acrobats; exposed to the heavy gravity of a larger planet, their thin, angular bones would shatter. Normal people bred into spun-glass ballerinas.  
  
Always perfect, always geometrical, the patterns they traced curved around the center of the courtyard, where Serenity walked. It was here that The Queen rested, an imposing marble sculpture with diamonds on each of her fingernails. In one hand a sword as tall as Serenity was tightly clasped, the knuckles of the hand standing out. Above the face a diadem of crystals spiraled out into sharp, shining points. And at the massive carved feet the suggestion of skulls had been etched, a quiet reference to the War of Comets, which had made the Lady Venus' career.  
  
Though of course she remembered the war, in truth Serenity knew little of it. Far away the blood had been spilt, and even farther were the eyes of her childhood friend Minako, as she knelt at her sovereign's feet with the treaty in her hands. A tiny scroll and a signature were all that was required from the moon's ruler. She had signed it; she always did.  
  
And that very night The Queen had gone up in the midst of the phosphorescent grass, greeted by the graceful forms of the dancers, and the joyous cries of homebound soldiers. It was the symbol of a triumphant Moon Kingdom. It wore the face of Serenity, and she called it The Queen, because she could see nothing in it of herself.  
  
Now her hand rose to the draped knee of the statue, beyond her reach. The stone was cool against her palm.  
  
"Mama?" a voice asked, high and childish, what sugar would sound like if it could speak. Her heart skipping, Serenity turned; behind her a young girl stood, two bushy, pink pigtails framing her round face, two buns in the shape of rabbit ears perched atop her head. The small mouth curled downward in concern.  
  
"Chibi-Usa!" Serenity cried, dropping to one knee and opening her arms. She barely heard the tearing of the fine silk of her Parliament dress, nor did she mind the grey lunar dust coating her legs. With a faint smile the girl rushed forward, her small hands tangling in her mother's hair. Abruptly she sneezed and brought her hand away, covered in white.  
  
Pulling a lace handkerchief from a hidden pocket, Serenity laughed. Gently wiping the tiny fist, she explained. "They powder my hair to make me look older. Silly, isn't it? Especially since everyone knows we don't grow at all.  
  
"But you have, haven't you? Look at you, almost as tall as me!" She held the girl away from her for a moment, pretending to marvel at the child's short stature. Fondly she stroked the soft, pink hair. Her daughter, her heart. She couldn't imagine life without this walking piece of her soul, and yet she lived that lonely nightmare everyday.  
  
"Mama, why are you crying?"  
  
"I don't know, Chibi-Usa," whispered Serenity, cradling the girl to her chest. Slowly she rocked, ignoring how sore it made her knees.  
  
"She isn't real, Usagi," Rei had said, her violet eyes dangerously narrowed. Again and again they had showed her the photos from junior high and high school. Even the laughable shot of Lady Venus and Lady Mars, struggling to be in the center of their little group's college graduation portrait, and Lady Mercury off to the side looking embarrassed in her valedictorian robes. After that, the photos became less cheerful, but in none of them was there a sign of a pink-haired child. The others simply didn't remember.  
  
"Mama," Chibi-Usa stated, her face suddenly grave, and her fingers wandering to Serenity's cheek. "You have to come find me."  
  
All too soon the heartbeat next to her own began to fade, and then she was holding nothing at all. Serenity knew, as the last warmth of the smaller body wisped away, that the instincts she felt within could not be lying to her. She knelt on the grass with The Queen for company, and another, smaller set of glowing footprints leading to the center of the courtyard where she sat. 


	3. Chapter 3

The Ghosts of Tranquility Crater Ch. 3  
  
By wingedpixie  
  
Disclaimer: Yet another unfortunate day of my not owning anything even remotely similar to Sailor Moon.  
  
AN: Once again, thank you for all the notes; they are greatly appreciated. Also, I'm sorry for getting this chapter out so late, but I have had other obligations (mainly a very evil bakery store owner who can't get through a birthday party order of cookies without the entire staff there for moral support). Enjoy!  
  
  
  
"Burn it," Artemis demanded, his sharp green eyes glistening from the firelight. He sat on the hearth with one white paw buried in soot, and like a cobra his tail weaved from side to side. A ridge of hair had risen on his back when he'd spotted the distinctive seal of the letter, but now he merely observed the Lady Venus, who slumped in a plush arm chair, rubbing her pale forehead in silence.  
  
Artemis the guardian watched as her eyes squinted shut and her mouth opened slightly, letting out a strained sigh. Not once did his pointed face, empty of emotion in the way of cats, waver.  
  
He could see that the seal was broken.  
  
"You may stop glaring at me, Artemis," Minako said, and yet she did not move except to loosen the red ribbon at her throat. From her hair she plucked a slender stick of amber, then another, until wave after wave of yellow hair fell over her shoulders and the elaborate bun had come undone. Slowly she unclasped her golden bracelet.  
  
Convinced that this was not going to be a speedily resolved affair, he feline slunk over to the Lady Venus' side and anchored the letter to the side table with his paw. Even stretched vertically as he was, Artemis only reached up to Minako's knee, not the best place for negotiation; so he tensed his muscles and sprung atop the little table. It wobbled threateningly.  
  
Minako arched an eyebrow. "On the furniture now, are we?" she quipped.  
  
"Burn. It," he repeated after he had regained his balance. With each word he tapped a sheer claw against the envelope.  
  
"Do you remember the Inaugural Ball, Artemis?" she said, her voice low and thick with some dark emotion.  
  
"I suppose you're referring to Diamond's attendance? Oh, I admit he's a pretty enough thing to look at, but do you really want to form a political alliance with a Christmas tree ornament?"  
  
"I was referring to our sovereign queen," Minako snapped. She jerked forward suddenly until her nose was level with his. The delicate whiskers twitched, but his emerald gaze never wavered.  
  
"Damn it Artemis. What am I supposed to do? She sat there on the throne, not moving, like some lifeless porcelain doll until Princess Kakyuu came forward to pay her respects. And then, after ignoring every monarch, every representative that had bowed to her that night, Serenity leapt up and flung herself at the princess' guard. 'Mamoru,' she called him. My God, Artemis; Rei practically had to restrain her!  
  
"For months the rumors flew from mouth to mouth; our friends, our allies all whispering of a ruler gone mad. Into the courts of our most loyal supporters I walked, having to ask, plead for the tribute which is ours by right. Behind their eyes, rebellion flickers, along with a newly kindled pride.  
  
"And even among our own, our councilors, our cabinetmen, ambition is uncoiling 'til I practically trip on its grasping tendrils each time I pass their chambers."  
  
"She has been overburdened," Artemis whispered, swallowing his surprise at the Lady Venus' passionate outpouring. "Her emotions are strained."  
  
"Do you think they care about emotions?!" she cried. "Them?!" And she clawed at her elegant sleeve until the pale flesh of her wrist was exposed to the light. Running from the pad of her thumb to her elbow, a thin, slightly purple line could be seen. Artemis flinched at the ghastly souvenir from the War of Comets.  
  
"They attack at the slightest sign of vulnerability. Our doctors discovered this when they tried to reach the wounded, unescorted." Her composure returned to her slowly, yet still her voice trembled, out of anger or sorrow Artemis couldn't tell.  
  
"And him …" Fixed on a darkened corner, Minako's eyes fluttered shut before the moisture in them could slip out.  
  
For a moment all was silent and still. Then the Lady Venus moved her hand toward the side table, and the Guardian shrank back, his ears clapped to his skull.  
  
"I will not be touched by a traitor," he hissed. Quietly Minako regarded him, her hand still suspended in the air.  
  
"I have already been a murderer, a liar, a thief, all for my queen," she said softly. "Perhaps it is time to be a turncoat for my country." She placed her hand in her lap.  
  
"I am rejoiced to hear such words," the red-clad scullery maid said, stepping through the doorway. 


	4. Chapter 4

The Ghosts of Tranquility Crater Ch.4  
  
By wingedpixie  
  
Disclaimer: My lawyer has informed me that Sailor Moon does not, and has never belonged to me. He then proceeded to demand $400 for the consultation.  
  
AN: Two chapters in two days! My, I do believe I've shocked meself, but I did think that that last scene needed to be finished. Once again, enjoy! (  
  
  
  
  
  
Calmly she walked into the room, aiming a small smile at the Lady Venus as if they shared some tantalizing secret. Chocking with shock and fury, Artemis spluttered, "Who-? What-?"  
  
"I'm … a friend," the girl said, and her smile widened into a grin that showed even her back teeth. Around her head a burgundy scarf had been twisted, tucked over and under the many silky black ropes of her hair, which shone with some sort of oil or a lack of washing. Her face was round, though not fleshy, and two tiny eyes squinted at Minako with impolite steadiness.  
  
"I don't have friends," Minako stated coldly, straightening her back out of habit. "At least, not on the kitchen staff." But instead of drawing back, the girl laughed, a high, shrill giggle that hurt the ears. Delving into one of the deep pockets of her red uniform, she continued to stare at the Lady Venus.  
  
"Neither do I," she said amiably, and from the pocket she drew a greasy cube of meat, which she waved at Artemis; he didn't disdain to move. The scullery maid shrugged, popping the scrap into her mouth and chewing loudly.  
  
"What exactly do you want?" Artemis spat. With great concentration she continued to chew, until the cat's tail began to lash from side to side and his mouth widened to loose a hiss. Swallowing, the girl tilted her head onto her shoulder.  
  
"Good kitty," she cooed. "Why don't you go take a stroll outside?"  
  
"Say what you have come for, or take yourself outside," the Lady Venus cut in, her tone like tree branches crackling from frost.  
  
For a second a glimmer of anger flooded the girl's full moon features, but it passed quickly, and with a dramatic sigh she lifted short fingers to the red wrapping in her hair. Steadily the cloth was unwound, twists of hair dropping to shield her face. She wrapped the surprising length of cotton around her arm, almost down to the thumb, and then with a careless flick of the shiny locks, she looked up, a black crescent moon emblazoned on her forehead.  
  
"Not as pretty as yours," the scullery maid murmured, reaching out to tap Minako's forehead, where the hint of a golden moon shimmered. "But I wonder if in these strange times, mine might not be worth more.  
  
She drew back, her worn leather shoes scuffing along the floor. Her touch had left a smear of grease, but the Lady Venus was distracted, caught in a whirl of clashing thoughts, and did not bother to wipe it away. The fire cast uncomfortable shadows, which swayed and fluttered about like windblown leaves as the log burned down.  
  
"At any rate," the intruder said, her hands clasped before her as though she were a schoolchild reciting. "The right honorable and virtuous Prince Diamond, with the full backing of his loyal subjects in his bountiful lands, wishes to graciously extend the hand of friendship to the most revered First Minister of the glorious Moon Kingdom with the hope of establishing a lasting bond of mutual good will."  
  
Toward the end of the little speech the girl had started to rock back and forth on her heels, and the red scarf had slipped down her arm to pool on the wooden floor. With a dismissive wave, surprisingly regal for one accustomed to scrubbing pans, she paused and drew breath.  
  
"Virtuous," Artemis snorted, abruptly fuming when the scullery maid laughed her piercing laugh and nodded in agreement.  
  
"There's more," she said. "Enough words to stuff a pillow, but they're just a jumble of pretty sounds to me, and besides –" Once again she attacked her voluminous pockets, one corner of her lip pinched between her teeth. As she grasped what she desired, her eyes lit up with the dim pleasure of vicarious rewards. "We've more interesting things to discuss," she finished, and Artemis' skin crawled when the girl produced a tiny, rounded box with a silver hinge. There was fever in her gaze that struck him as ominous.  
  
Cautiously Minako plucked the box from the scullery maid's hand, trying to mask her distaste at the brush of their fingers. In her mind she tried to structure a neutral comment, not so harsh as to alienate Diamond, for uneasy as the thought made her she was hesitant to close that door, but enough to get this disturbing creature out of her chambers. As it happened, it wasn't required, for within moments the heavy door burst inward, spilling several mutely dressed royal guards.  
  
"Gone!" gasped one, who had managed to disentangle himself and stumble forward. "Gone!" he repeated, and the Lady Venus recognized the trademark signs of panic: widened eyes and thoughts that looped like a jammed record. From the table Artemis leapt, nimbly landing in the midst of the men and picking a sandy-haired lieutenant that looked relatively calm.  
  
"What happened? And speak clearly," he demanded, jabbing the guard's shin with his paw.  
  
"The Queen," the man managed, as out of breath as any of the others but gradually squeezing out a fragmented report. "Outside the compound … saw her … but didn't think … she ran … so did we to get here but … too late …"  
  
"Gone," the first guard added. "Into Tranquility Crater." 


	5. Chapter 5

The Ghosts of Tranquility Crater Ch.5  
  
By wingedpixie  
  
Disclaimer: Odd … I don't seem to be named Naoko Takeuchi; I guess that means I don't own Sailor Moon.  
  
AN: Hello again. Finally some action in this plot! ^.^ No really. I mean it.  
  
  
  
The Lady Mars pressed a hand to her lower back, where dull prickles coursed along her spine. For many hours the golden flames of oracle fire had tossed in the cupped hands of the Idol, its black marble lips open slightly and leis of pink and white flowers dangling about its thick neck. Only rarely did she visit this tiny temple, tucked beneath the violent green clouds of the outpost planet Neftup, but the head priest's scroll, tied with white ribbon and smelling heavily of incense, had been urgent, frightened at the sudden miracle, or death omen as some called it.  
  
A young apprentice had wandered in with the night's dark hours, a female friend on one arm, a bottle of wine in the other. Both had come stumbling out, screams tearing from their throats and their eyes rolling wildly. Within seconds the Idol had been discovered, its palms aflame and the air surrounding it icy cold. "Come quickly," the letter had said. "The people are frightened, and we of the brotherhood know not what to tell them."  
  
Rei herself knew not what o tell them. As she had arrived, the sound of many excited whispers and softly padding feet had reached her before she had turned into the great oblong bowl where the brothers waited. A surge of airy beige robes had greeted her, and many gentle hands had touched her raven hair, the bright charms and rusted amulets that hung from her sash. They had closed the stone doors of the inner sanctuary behind her.  
  
And Rei had knelt, gazing into the mysterious fire with a cloak of dark crow feathers resting on her shoulders for warmth. Within the reckless, dancing flames, vague shapes had flung themselves at one another, casting sparks onto the floor. Golden figures had seemed to sprout mouths, only to howl mutely and plunge back into the formless burning. In waves the fire had moved or curled upward like a serpent, never quite leaving the broad, black fingers of the Idol.  
  
And then in a flash it had gone, the light and the fierce flames. And though the cavernous hall had been overrun by shadows, the air had begun to warm. It was as if the fire could produce no heat of its own and had drawn its life from the atmosphere.  
  
No smoke hinted at its existence. Indeed, except for the faint metallic scent lingering in her nostrils, the Lady Mars could find no evidence that the fire had ever burned.  
  
He back hurt. Lifting pale arms above her head, she stretched, casting the Idol a resentful look. Slowly her ribbon-bound feet awoke, tingling unpleasantly from being bent back underneath her for so long. With a final glare at the rough-hewn statue, she strode across the cool tiles to the carved double doors.  
  
"Aid, brothers," she called, the cue for the priests without to haul open the heavy stone. Her fingers brushed at a stubborn strand of hair too short to be tucked behind an ear. Carefully she reviewed the events of the past day, still unable to draw reason or cause from her thoughts. Soon she stood before the intricate carvings of vines and pointed flowers, but the doors did not budge, nor could she hear the rustle of monastic robes.  
  
"Aid, brothers," she repeated, a tinge of annoyance coloring her voice. Rising in her chest, a sudden rage fought to burst forth, to race through the thoughts of the Lady Mars and thrust itself into her words. Only after many years of militant meditation had she conquered those angry impulses, and at the moment her thin control over them was wavering. Still no priests came to assist her.  
  
Silently fuming, she thrust a shoulder against the door and winced as her cramped muscles rebelled at the strain. Slowly the door scraped open, the shrill sound making her teeth ache, until a narrow slice of the temple gardens could be seen. With a gasp Rei tottered back from the threshold, her heart fluttering wildly, for there on the floor a limp hand had fallen, and the peach-colored sleeve that covered it was streaked with red.  
  
Rei rushed forward, her anger forgotten, replaced by a muffled apprehension, as though her premonitions were shrieking at her from beneath a pile of wet towels. Catching he hand up in her own, she was startled by its dry warmth, but no pulse met her fingertips. For a moment she simply stood, trying to reconcile the idea of a dead body with that of a peaceful outpost temple and failing. Gently she twisted the hand, until the lifeless palm was turned up toward her face, and she could see a mass of angry purple lines pulsing beneath the skin.  
  
"Gods," she whispered, barely choking the word out. The priest's arm fell to the ground with a thump, as the Lady Mars clutched her raven feather cloak and tried not to remember what the Lady Venus had written in her reports.  
  
"They shot little pellets of poison at us. Hundreds of tiny spheres whipped through the air without a sound, but you could hear them hit the soldiers. Every time a man was struck there would be a "thwick" and then a thud when he collapsed." Rei recalled the pages where Mianko had described the casualties, the thousands of strangely heated corpses with swollen purple veins.  
  
But that had been years ago in the Crilla galaxy. For Rei the reports had been something of a gruesome bedtime story, beginning with "once upon a time" and ending before the villains could reach the glinting belt of icy asteroids that marked the border of the Moon Kingdom, and Neftup, though certainly an outpost, was well within that boundary.  
  
Yet there before her a dead priest sprawled, blood trickling down his broad sleeve from the penetration wound and his veins choked with toxins. It seemed that for one side at least, the War of Comets was not over, a fact they had failed to mention at the treaty signing.  
  
She ran, hurling herself at the doors and plunging out into the gardens. Her sandal caught in the robes of the dead man, but she didn't pause to untangle it; she did not want to see his face. With a yank her foot came free, and up the small tree-sheltered hill, Rei fled, her amulets slapping against her chest and her hair swishing from side to side.  
  
"Find them, find them, find them," her inner voice chanted in time with her footfalls, as her legs, burning from exhaustion, carried her into the sweet- smelling grove of white-flowered trees. The wind hissed through their branches and into her face; it carried drops of sweat off her skin. It stirred the green clouds into confused shapes, which twisted about and sprinkled beads of moisture over the world below.  
  
For a brief moment Rei felt hope. Over the next crest the bowl where the Brothers congregated would be visible, and she could call to them, scream at them to run to the imposing tower of rock where the city government resided. Painfully her lungs pulled at the air to prepare for a shout.  
  
But it never came. Only a short "wa" escaped her, as she staggered over the hilltop and looked down at the grounds. Hundreds of beige robes fluttered in the breeze, the crumpled forms beneath them lolling on the floor of the bowl.  
  
Not a sound disturbed the ghastly scene, except for a soft "thwick" followed instantly by a searing pain that streaked up her leg. Every nerve in her body blazed with agony, and it felt as though she was being dissolved from within.  
  
"Nooo!" she screamed, but it never left her lips. By the time she hit the earth, her heart had already stopped beating. 


	6. Chapter 6

The Ghosts of Tranquility Crater Ch.6  
  
By wingedpixie  
  
Disclaimer: Look deeeeep into the crystal ball and observe that I do not own Sailor Moon. Good. Now we can get started.  
  
Serenity ran, the long tails of her hair flowing silver white behind her in the reduced gravity. As she had passed the massive pearl gates that marked the end of the palace ground and kicked away her uncomfortable heeled shoes, the desperate shouts of the guards, scattered along the high walls of her home like shining white statues, faded from her ears; there was no air to carry her cries. And oh, how her heart leapt to see the glimmering spires of the Crystal City shrink in the distance, and feel gritty lunar dust chaffing the soles of her bare feet.  
  
In truth the people didn't need her, not with capable Minako pulling the strings of the bickering courtiers, and slant-eyed Artemis whose tail lashed with a vibrant life all its own when his anger was sparked. They never had.  
  
In her deepest core, she had thought herself a bit of a nuisance, even more so of late as the sharp looks from Rei and the heavy sighs of Minako, the brittle coldness of Ami's words had become more frequent. It was as if they had tired of their cheery queen. And the war. That horrid war. Her sudden flight would be a blessing, she was sure, though her heart twinged slightly at the anxiety Minako would feel. No doubt search parties would be sent.  
  
But no, she would not allow then to find her, until that pink-haired, sugar- voiced angel was cradled in her arms and the price who conjured roses was solid at her side. Beyond a doubt they had existed; no figment of imagination could twist the heart so bitterly, so wretchedly with longing. And if the face of the moon was barren, free of any trace of their sweet souls, then her heart would shatter. Simply and without drama her breath would still. Her essence would leap from her slender form, crumpled in the shifting grey dust of the moon, and she would find them that way.  
  
With the burst of poignant joy that comes only from flinging one's entire being into a single irreparable action, Serenity sped across broad stretches of pocked land. 


	7. Chapter 7

The Ghosts Of Tranquility Crater Ch.7  
  
By wingedpixie  
  
Disclaimer: Well, my top secret plane to create a clone of Naoko Takeuchi and thereby claim all rights to Sailor Moon hasn't quite worked out. So alas, I still do not own the series.  
  
AN: Aiya! People are still showing interest in this story?! Thank you uber much, folks. You've re-inspired me! Unfortunately this lists toward the short side, so bear with me.  
  
Tranquility Crater plummeted downward in that heady, fearless way of isolated landscapes. For nearly three miles, its soft, crumbling sides poured an endless stream of weightless grey dust into the basin, where it hovered, a misty haze slowly roiling like a thousand gauzy veils. The bottom lay obscured, an intense secret that quickened the breath of those who perched on the edge and peered futilely at the upper swaths of smoky residue. Scrupulously avoided, unmolested: the crater tore into the placid face of the moon with sudden violence. Other than the foreboding natural to such remote and desolate places, no sign of its existence warned the rare trekker, and only half-remembered instincts inherited from her daunting, straight-backed mother caused Serenity to stop.  
  
Her steps were silent. At the very lip of the crater her feet stilled, the one thousand and twelve ceremonial folds of her gown settling around her ankles, but the long tails of her hair continued to float about her ears, like ghastly pale fronds of seaweed in oceans whose surging currents had long since abandoned the barren moon.  
  
With a hesitant flutter her heart urged her, invoking shadowed memories of frigid, murky water, where shadows thrashed violently against crumbling walls of obsidian, and scales of decomposing seahorses floated aimlessly. Voices hissed with what might have been cruelty, if any malice could have been found behind them, but only indifference rode the harsh sounds, and the hollow, metallic quality of them made her cringe.  
  
Suddenly the noise coalesced, rushing into a mass of physical darkness. All of the rising, deafening voices twisted into a fist-sized sphere of spiked tar, that streaked toward Serenity. Against her chest the ball splattered, its unearthly speed crushing the ribs that enclosed her heart, and globs of the inky tar scorched through the flesh of her cheeks, as well as the slim fingertips which clawed at them.  
  
"Soleil!" A sharp scream escaped her, as she found herself sprawled ungracefully, her nose buried in the ashen dust of the crater floor. With a strangled gasp, her hands clutched desperately at the bodice of her gown, embroidered with slivered moons and gauzy moths. No shards of bone gashed her probing fingers; no pain seared up her trembling skeletal frame.  
  
"Soleil?" she whispered. No excuse or explanation for its existence in her memory accompanied the word. Around her the sheer gray walls of the crater soared upward, leant the illusion of motion by the eternally tumbling dust. Miles above, the miniscule pinpricks of distant suns glimmered malignantly against the vast, black velvet sky.  
  
Gingerly Serenity rolled to her side, her ears buzzing tenderly in the aftermath of the mechanical howling. Only to find a pair of luminescent hooves, which glinted like the delicate insides of oysters, directly before her face.  
  
"Amazing," their owner murmured, a low note of tender sympathy warming the sorrowful tone. The voice evoked an image of honey tears in her thoughts, and above the softly sloped nose, two wide gold-rimmed eyes gazed evenly into hers, with the glassy sheen of one who has forsaken all expectations, but, though well-accustomed to the world's sadism, cannot help a lingering twinge at its constant ministrations.  
  
"Amazing, the sway a mere flicker of the past holds over the actions of the present. How domineering a memory can be."  
  
A shining spiral of light rose proudly through the disorderly tufts of translucent hair. From the massive, snowy wings arcing over the broad shoulders, a feather which curled into an elaborate plume at one end, while tapering daintily at the other, drifted down to rest, an infinitely fragile craft rocking slightly on the crater floor. 


End file.
